According to the folk calendar - Polikarpov Day

According to the folk calendar, Polikarpov's Day is celebrated on March 8 (February 23, old style) The day took its name from the church calendar on the day of honoring the memory of St Polycarp of Smyrna, who became a Christian bishop in the 1st century The orphan Polycarp was adopted by a righteous woman, raising him faithful to Christ After her death, the young man distributed the inheritance to the poor, and he himself went to serve in the temple First he received the rank of presbyter, then bishop of Smyrna Polycarp zealously cared for his flock, guiding them on the true path During the persecution of Christians, the bishop showed courage - he courageously went out to meet the persecutors who executed him Around Polikarpov's Day, people were preparing for the onset of Maslenitsa The wedding period was coming to an end, so unmarried and unengaged girls walked around upset That’s why the day was called “sour girls” People who did not marry for a long time were considered almost outcasts; on the one hand, they were pitied, and on the other, they were neglected On Polikarpov's Day, such girls hid their outfits until the onset of summer, but did not miss the opportunity to tell fortunes for their betrothed They secretly swept garbage into the home, reading conspiracies to attract suitors They spun on the heel of their right foot on the street under the moon, so that the grooms would also twirl In the morning they put out sour dough for pies, baked pies in the afternoon, and in the evening they took the baked pies to their girlfriends and exchanged them, believing that someone else’s treat would lead to marriage If the moon waned in the sky, healers performed a ritual on clean skin To do this, the girls brought 8 icicles to the prophetess's house During their melting, a special spell was read, and after that the girls washed themselves with melt water To determine the final melting of snow in the fields, peasants performed fortune telling with straw One straw was placed on a snowdrift and if it fell down, the snow would completely melt off within a month By watching the magpies on Polikarpov's day, they determined the coming weather: if they hid under the roof, the residents prepared for heavy snowfall, headed into the forest and waited for the arrival of warmth The singing of a finch foreshadowed a light frost Fast-moving clouds in the sky heralded the onset of warm days Heavy fog promised a damp summer